A Seeker of Truth
Gender: Male
Location: Canada
Rank: Medium-in-training
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:04 pm
Posts: 329
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
It may come as a surprise, but they're actually using the original PC fan translation as its base. From there, they'll substantially edit it and turn it into the official English script. Games like this and Banshee's Last Cry (iOS localization of Chunsoft's classic Kamaitachi no Yoru) will truly test if gamers are ready to "play" something that's meant to be completely read with only choices as interaction.
Huh... that's interesting; I never knew that before. Well, you learn something new every day
Perhaps Capcom will do something like this when the AAI2 patch is finished? If they did, I'm not sure if that would annoy me or please me; it'd majorly annoy me because they'd be publishing it after doing next to no work to ensuring it's localization, but it'd please me because at least they'd be making sure more Ace Attorney would be sent out to the masses; particularly if they did a limited physical release run (which I doubt they'd do)
Anyways, I'll be interested to see what gamers who are new to visual novels will think of this; many people claim to love games with great stories, great characters and amazing soundtracks, but when faced with a game that has minimal interaction and a lot of reading, they're truly put to the test as to how much they're willing to invest in an experience. Many play video games or watch TV for mindless entertainment, so it'd be difficult for these people to be able to invest the attention to play their way through a visual novel. Well, here's hoping for the best
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
I'm a strong advocate of watching/playing my media in its original uncensored version, but the Key games are the rare exception were I'd go with the all-ages versions. The h-scenes are COMPLETELY out of place with the tone of the game. Not only that, BUT THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT THEM AGAIN. Seriously, Yuichi has sex with these girls and they act like it never happens afterwards. Some of these girls even have severe psychological trauma or other problems. I highly doubt that they'd be in the mood for fucking.
Luckily, the anime version takes these annoying bits out. So that's something to look forward to.
I'm glad you agree
I'm one of those guys who feels uncomfortable even seeing girls in bikinis, so I usually avoid entertainment with flat-out avoid nudity where I can
Even if that wasn't my preference however, I'm sure I'd still want to play the all-ages version of these visual novels nonetheless, mainly for the reasons you said; they just would feel completely and utterly out of place, not only stylistically (I mean come on; it's moe
) but with the characters' personalities as well, that they would feel like they were disrupting the experience. I think the reasoning behind this MAY have been that they didn't want children playing these games but they needed a way to attract adult gamers who would be turned off by the cutesyness, so they simply added h-scenes to encourage adult gamers to give a chance. If that was the case, it was a rather cheap and tasteless way to attract attention, but whatever; at least Kanon DID get shunted into the spotlight one way or the other; Kanon is a good game and deserves to be played
Well, hopefully the rest of the game proves fun for you, and look forward to the anime; it definitely does the game justice
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
The core SMT has always been retro-inspired and brutally difficult without the proper guide. It's an acquired taste, but they do have a lot of great moments. Persona seems to be a lot more lighter in tone. I'll defintely check it out when I get to it. I have this thing where I have to play everything in order when I start a series.
I wish I were the same, pal
I mean, when I do start a series I TRY to start from the beginning, but sometimes it'll just be too hard for me to get into it; stuff from the NES/SNES may be classics, but sometimes they just feel too... different from the gaming experiences I'm used to for me to properly get into them.
Maybe I should try bullying myself a little more? 'You're going to STICK with this game till the very end, and you are going to like it!
'... or something like that?
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
Yeah, you're right. But because of that stupid decision, it turned out to be a mediocre anime. It's the same thing with the recent Watamote series. I absolutely loved it until the half-assed garbage ending. It's terrible, and if this show had another season, it'd would have been a great series. Unfortunately, it's only a good series. Stupid networks.
Yeah
Good source material don't always get good adaptations unfortunately, and that's largely a result of executive decisions. In a perfect world, there'd be a lot more flexibility and slots when it comes to network channels, as well as more resources and creative leeway on the part of the studios; shows that are too short would be expanded, shows that are too long (Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, for example, though I'll admit I'm not exactly a fan of these shows so I'm biased
) would be made shorter. But alas, the world of anime is not necessairly a perfect one; at least though we're lucky enough to get masterstrokes like Steins; Gate every so often
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
Well the dub has some of its more cringe-worthy moments. Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mslZSL9Z84 I may be in the minority here, but I actually found that scene kinda cute
That said, I can see why it would be cringe-worthy to some; Mayuri is a moe-ish sort of girl, and moe in the Japanese dub is a LOT different then anything that could possibly be done in english. As such, sub-minded people would find the scene in English cringe-worthy, while dubbers would be vice-versa; it all comes down to preference I suppose
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
Besides the obvious choice of the main character Rintarou Okabe, I'd have to go with Kurisu Makise. She's the strongest female character anime has seen in such a long time. She's not walking fan service, and she's not a brainless broad with big boobs. She's an insecure, but highly intelligent, woman who simply wants to prove to her father that she's worth something in his eyes. I really liked how the movie showed her perspective on things. The relationship between her and Okabe is one of the strongest romances I've ever seen in any medium. Come to think of it, Steins;Gate has one of the best stories in any medium.
Funny thing about Okabe; in the beginning, he just seemed odd to me and a bit of an ass at times
But when you see the mind behind the facade of crazy and the heart behind the 'mad scientist' you start to warm up to him, and by the end of the series it's hard not to really like the guy, mad scientist persona and all
Makise Kurisu on the other hand was someone that wasn't hard to like at all, not even from the beginning; sure on the surface she's a genius with a streak of pride and independance, but underneath she's incredibly insecure to her father rejecting her and wants nothing more then to somehow win him back. She's also a warm, caring individual who will go the extra mile to give her friends a hand when they need it; however, she's also a bit of a no-nonsense sort of girl who doesn't like to take crap from anyone and can be quite confrontational. She's a marvelously complex woman, and she is one of the best female characters I've ever seen in any medium
And as you said, her romance with Okabe is AMAZING: it's completely believable as their relationship moves from reluctant (on her part) cooperation to a solid friendship to an eventual romance, and you just can't help but enjoy seeing the dynamic between these two as they both tussle and help each other out throughout it all
But again as you said, Steins; Gate is one of the best stories ever created, so it's no surprise that the romance sticks with you so
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
Speaking of Okabe, I'm actually cosplaying as him for an upcoming anime convention that I'm going to with my girlfriend. It's actually the first time I've been to one of these things ever, so I'm pretty excited. I've already got my labcoat.
Since the S;G PC limited edition comes with lab member pins, I'll be wearing those too.
You're in for a treat then; anime conventions are SUPER fun, and an absolute BLAST to experience
Not exactly easy on the wallet, but if you only go to one a year then you can justify it
And hey, you're going as Okabe, so I don't doubt that that in itself is going to be enjoyable; he's such a charmingly eccentric character that posing as him would be a blast. As Okabe himself would say, your going to this con must be a decision of Steins; Gate itself
As for myself, I'm probably going to go as Okabe next year; I wanted to do him this year, but my two cosplays that I'm doing (Apollo Justice and Miles Edgeworth) were both things that I hadn't originally planned on doing, but sort of just came together. I had no intention at first, but then I found the right colored pants here (at Old Navy and Bluenotes, to be exact), the right blazer at a thrift store there, my mom got me an Apollo vest for my birthday and then before I knew it, my cosplays for both guys were already nearly complete, so it would've been a shame not to finish them. Ah well; I'll have the lab member pin (I'm also getting the S;G Limited Edition
), the pants and the shirt, so that'll make my cosplay that much easier to do next year
TopHatProfessor1014 wrote:
BTW, I'm part of a video game music reviewing site. After several delays, we've re-launched with a brand new look. I wrote reviews of the Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate soundtracks as part of the launch. They're here if you're interested. Tell me what you think.
Welcome to VGMOnline?:
http://www.vgmonline.net/welcome/Chaos;Head:
http://www.vgmonline.net/chaoshead/Steins;Gate:
http://www.vgmonline.net/steinsgate/Page has been bookmarked; as a fan of video game music, I enjoy reading reviews of em in order to discover new material wherever I can, so I'll definitely have to visit you guys' site every once in a while
As for your reviews, I felt like you did a good job with both.
You mentioned a lot of the highlights of the soundtrack while analyzing a lot of the key pieces and the various thematic and genre motifs captured in each; it wasn't an 'OMG, this soundtrack is amazing!' review, but a methodical and thoughtful one that considered each track for it's musical merit and how well they worked as a stand-alone listen. I particularly liked your analysis of 'Gate of Steiner'; I've only listened to it within the anime, but it is a solid piece that deserves to stand amongst the 'legends' of video game music. In short; well done
"No one can change the past. The only thing we can do is strive to make up for our mistakes. Why must we make up for our mistakes, you ask? Because in so doing... we can find the way back to our path. And once we've found our path, we can move on from our past mistakes toward a brighter future."- Phoenix Wright